The GUI is a bit confusing and you have to locate matching points in each pair of images yourself. But is has some powerful features and after a bit of work I always get a good stitch. It will also export the result to Photoshop with layers so you can adjust the seams.

Luminous Landsacpe recently reviewed Realviz Stitcher which sounds like the solution for pros handling a large volume of images.

[font color=\'#000000\']I have had some very acceptable results with the PhotoStitch software supplied with many Canon digital cameras. The secret is to use the facility to match specific areas of adjacent images manually after the software has made a first pass at automatic stiching. I find that the more areas I match the better is the final result. The only problem that I experience is in the sky are where stripes are sometimes visible in the overlap area. SA little work in Photoshop usually fixes this problem.[/font]

[font color=\'#000000\']Nowadays when I try posting on this site, I usually get excommunicated (banned from accessing the site). I'm beginning to feel like a dissident Chinese person in China.

I have to say, I'm in complete agreement with Didger on this stitching issue. In general, it's a big time-waster, suitable mainly for hobbyists and people with time to burn.

However, I think it's probably true that PC users have more options than Mac users with regard to stitching programs.

As a PC owner, I recommend Panavue's Image Assembler. It's got its limitations, which are almost exclusively related to perspective control/adjustment of close subject matter. It can't handle that. For such scenes I use my Tilt & shift lenses.

But it can handle reasonably distant scenes with great aplomb and efficiency. My advice is, know your program; what it can handle easily and efficiently; what it can handle with difficulty and great 'stuffing around' and what it can't handle at all.

Geez! Didger, I hope my agreeing with you has not jeopardized you're future on this site. Maybe you now need to denounce me .[/font]

Geez! Didger, I hope my agreeing with you has not jeopardized you're future on this site. Maybe you now need to denounce me

Umm, actually it appears that the chastisements that you have been subjected to have had a salutory effect; meaning you're gradually becoming more reasonable, meaning that of course you find yourself finally agreeing with me about something. I'm glad the "therapy" is working.

Anyway, for sure PC users have more options and I have a PC desktop and a PC laptop that I could use if I were convinced that there's a totally pro level program for PC, but I'm not convinced. As for "knowing your program" and what it can handle and not handle; I want a program that can handle it all. In fact PTMac and PTAssembler can handle everything I've tried. The only thing is those programs are simply too clumsy and time consuming to use for serious production with lots of images. Life is too short. I'm sure these programs will mature. In any case, I know that the guy doing the Mac version has ambitious plans and is making steady progress in the direction that will eventually result in something with an interface as powerful and convenient as RealViz Stitcher, but continuing to work as reliably and perfectly as PTMac already works. I'm currently much too obsessed with getting out backpacking in our marvelous high mountains for the rest of summer and early fall to spend a lot of time in front of a computer anyway. I can wait for a better stitching program rather than diddle with one thing after another to see which one has a combination of limitations I can live with.[/font]

Luminous Landsacpe recently reviewed Realviz Stitcher which sounds like the solution for pros handling a large volume of images.

I spent a lot of time with this program and got perfect results sometimes, but failures other times. Occasionally the program can't do a stitch and asks if you want to do a "forced stitch", which may or may not work perfectly. Sometimes it says it can't do a forced stitch either and then you can align manually, which rarely works perfectly in my experience. Success or failure with this program has to do with the particular lenses you use and subject matter and how much overlap you provide. The program requires a huge overlap (25-30%) and even then I could not get good results 100% of the time. I sure don't see this as a program for handling a large volume of images, especially at $600.

I spent a lot of time with PTMac also and got perfect results, but the interface is so clumsy and there's no proper 16 bit file support, so this is also not a good program for handling a large volume of images.

I tried several cheap automatic programs and only very rarely got really good results. I've given up trying such programs regardless of enticing reports of great results; maybe now and then with just the right sort of subject matter and the right lens, but I'm certainly not convinced that there's any cheap quick program for handling a large volume of images with consistent professional results.[/font]

I have had some very acceptable results with the PhotoStitch software supplied with many Canon digital cameras.

My results with this program were about the worst of any program I tested, about equal to the stitch program that comes with Photoshop CS. Any stitch program will give somewhat satisfactory results if you're using a lens with extremely little distortion (like almost any decent 50mm lens) and if your adjacent images are very closely matched in exposure and white balance. Generally if your images are shot with a wide angle (especially ultra-wide) lens you'll have enough distortion so that the edges won't match closely enough. With PTMac or PTAssembler you select matching points to pixel accuracy and the program stretches and squeezes your images to force a perfect match. Just manually matching areas roughly the way you can do with PhotoStitch will not produce such perfect precise results and won't work well at all with challenging wide angle lens images and as you noticed from your sky problems PhotoStitch also does not always do such a great job blending.

For doing an occasional panorama stitch project for fun, a program like PhotoStitch can indeed be a lot of fun once you know what lenses and what sort of source material will work (more or less anyway). Photoshop cleaning up of imperfections can be part of the fun. However, for professional production using a variety of different sorts of lenses and lots of different sorts of subject matter and where production speed and 100% professional quality results are critical, PhotoStitch is totally hopeless.[/font]

You were told weeks ago in a private e-mail that you were no longer welcome on this site due to unacceptable postings. Your IP address was subsequently blocked.

I really don't know why you insist on visiting here when you've been asked to leave. You are not welcome here.

I'm leaving your previous message up so that others are clear about my attitude and intentions. I'm tired of deleting your messages and blocking your IP. Just go away. I won't say it again, even if it means blocking an entire range of IP addresses to keep you out. So please, don't inconvenience others in this way.

[font color=\'#000000\']Didger is right that if you want a stitcher program that does everything perfectly every time with little work, it doesn't exist. However, there are some OK programs out there that work pretty well in many situations and are easy to use. I tried several and finally settled on Panorama Factory. The results of my tests (with a stitched sample) were in a thread here a couple of months ago; trying searching for the title "Image stitching software".